Chapter 267 is just a porter

Chapter 267 is just a porter

Xie Wanniang didn't hide it from her, "Begonia."

Lady Hou raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Xie Wanniang explained with a smile, "That girl is extremely talented in martial arts and is usually very efficient in her work, but she particularly hates reading and arithmetic. If it weren't for this special situation, I wouldn't have thought of making her write. But it will be fine from now on, she can justifiably refuse to write."

Upon hearing this, Lady Hou couldn't help but laugh, "That's really..."

Xie Wanniang gestured for her to look at the details, "I'll have to trouble you to check it out. If there's anything I wrote that's not quite right, please point it out and I'll go back and revise it."

Lady Hou didn't stand on ceremony with her. Although the emperor would never accept this gift without question, but would adjust his strategy according to the specific circumstances, those of them who were paid by the emperor and served as his subjects still had to do their best within their capabilities.

She doesn't have much say in medical skills or technology, but she can still check the business plan to see if there's anything inappropriate.

While Lady Hou was studying the booklet intently, Xie Wanniang casually drank tea and ate cakes, dried fruit, and fresh fruit.

And I must say, the Marquis's mansion not only has a wide variety of delicacies, but each one is also exquisitely prepared, making one's appetite whetted at first glance.

She ate with relish, but the more Lady Hou watched, the more she couldn't help but chuckle.

Through this proposal themed "Lowering the Barriers to Education and Breaking the Monopoly of Knowledge," Lady Hou seemed to see a shrewd girl who loved to develop in a sneaky way and then make a name for herself, eager to catch any troublemakers off guard.

To be fair, Lady Hou also felt that keeping it a secret until the matter was settled was a better course of action than making things clear from the beginning.

As the saying goes, at least nine and a half out of ten people who become leaders of powerful families are extremely good at weighing the pros and cons.

If the emperor makes his intentions clear from the beginning, they will definitely try to sabotage and obstruct him, both openly and secretly, for their own benefit. However, if the emperor takes action first and catches them off guard, they will re-evaluate the pros and cons and formulate countermeasures based on the actual situation, given that the deed is done.

Lady Hou guessed that when these people realized that obstruction was futile and would only offend the emperor, they would most likely resort to "if you can't beat them, join them," and before others could react, they would rack their brains to acquire new technologies and gain the upper hand in training the next generation and accumulating wealth.

Lady Hou couldn't say what the emperor would do then, but regardless of whether the emperor chose to give them a little something after weighing the pros and cons, or chose to continue suppressing them, Xie Wanniang's goal of "lowering the threshold for education and breaking the monopoly on knowledge" would at least no longer be a problem.

Thinking about it this way, Lady Hou couldn't help but look forward to the changes in the situation several years later.

She believed that the emperor was not like Xie Wanniang, who simply wanted to give as many ordinary people as possible a chance to study. As a wise and ambitious monarch, he would definitely seize the opportunity and take advantage of the situation to change the political landscape.

"I've read it, and there are no problems." Carefully placing the booklet on the table, Madam Hou looked at Xie Wanniang with undisguised approval.

"You are indeed more talented than I imagined." In fact, this talent, which shines brightly and amazes the world, is completely different from the professions that Xie Wanniang was originally good at.

Lady Hou had no idea how this girl could manage to cross over into such an outrageous field. At this moment, she felt that Xie Wanniang was a treasure cave that she could keep digging into. No matter when you dug in, she could bring you unexpected surprises and wealth.

Upon hearing this, Xie Wanniang hurriedly waved her hands and shook her head, saying, "This is not my own ability; I am merely a conveyor of knowledge and technology."

Lady Hou took her words lightly, since apart from Xie Wanniang, she had never heard of anyone else inventing woodblock printing or movable type printing.

But Xie Wanniang knew that the so-called printing technology was not invented late, but rather that it had never been vigorously promoted by those in power.

Putting aside everything else, the Four Books and Five Classics, which are the most sold in bookstores, were not hand-copied by people they hired.

Movable type printing may not have existed in this era, but woodblock printing has indeed existed for many years.

It was only because Lady Hou was someone who valued martial arts over literature and didn't usually pay much attention to related trades that she didn't know that those large bookstores and publishing houses had mastered the technology of woodblock printing.

If it were her father, Xie Daoheng, people wouldn't mistakenly believe that woodblock printing was "invented" by Xie Wanniang.

The two chatted briefly about the follow-up matters. The lady of the house mainly said that she would send a reliable person to secretly deliver the items to the capital as soon as possible, while Xie Wanniang mainly said that she hoped to completely remain behind the scenes.

The two quickly reached an agreement, and Xie Wanniang, just like last time, leisurely ate lunch at the Marquis's residence, as if she had come to see the Marquis's wife not because they had any important business to discuss, but simply because she wanted to strengthen their relationship.

After lunch, Xie Wanniang took her leave, and the Lady Hou even went back to take a nice afternoon nap, as was her usual habit.

It wasn't until her husband, the Marquis of Dingbei, returned home that evening that she took out the items and showed them to him one by one.

Marquis Dingbei was initially astonished, but then he praised the person who created these things highly. Firstly, Xie Wanniang had indeed shocked him quite a bit, and secondly, from the perspective of a military general and a loyal minister, Marquis Dingbei also hoped that the court would no longer be controlled by a few officials through factionalism and corruption.

Leaving aside distant examples, let's take the previous dynasty as an example. While the downfall of the previous dynasty was certainly due to the fact that the later emperors were either dissolute, mediocre, or willful, if it weren't for the fact that the civil officials who held most of the power in the court formed cliques and disregarded the law, the country, and the people for their own selfish desires, the previous dynasty would not have collapsed so quickly.

As the saying goes, bad money drives out good. When the vast majority of officials in a country act only for their own selfish desires and according to their party affiliation, then the very few officials who want to clean up the bureaucracy and do something practical for the country and its people, and even the emperor who wants to save the country from collapse, will become outcasts and targets of their collective efforts.

Otherwise, the last emperor of the previous dynasty, who wanted to reform but was powerless to reverse the decline, and the Xie family would not have had to be buried with the previous dynasty in such a tragic way.

While most people are forgetful, foolish, and short-sighted, there are still some who, not long after the fall of the previous dynasty, still remember the lessons learned from its demise, such as the founding emperor, empress, and crown prince of the Great Wei, as well as the Marquis of Dingbei and his wife.